US military ‘mistakenly’ shoots down own fighter aircraft in ‘friendly fire’ over Red Sea
Fighter jet was an F/A-18 Hornet flying off aircraft carrier Harry S Truman
- US missile cruiser Gettysburg mistakenly fires on fighter.
- Two F/A-18 Hornet pilots rescued from downed aircraft.
- One pilot experiences minor injures in “friendly fire” incident.
The United States military said it mistakenly shot down one of its own fighter aircraft over the Red Sea early on Sunday, forcing both pilots to eject.
Both were rescued, one with minor injuries, after the “apparent case of friendly fire,” which is being investigated, US Central Command said in a statement.
The fighter was an F/A-18 Hornet flying off the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman.
One of the carrier’s escort ships, the missile cruiser Gettysburg, “mistakenly fired on and hit” the plane, the statement said.
The Red Sea has been a hotbed of military activity for more than a year as US forces battle Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi fighters, who have carried out attacks against shipping in the region.
The US military said it had fired on Houthi drones and missiles over the Red Sea on Saturday, and had attacked command-and-control and missile storage sites in Sanaa.
